Logan Babysits
by William Logan
Summary: When Jean and Scott and Jean's sister and brother-in-law go out for a night on the town, an unlikely X-Man is forced to babysit Jean's niece...


By the way, just for everyone's information, I'm soon to have a website with my work on it, I'll keep everyone posted on that. :)  
  
"Logan Babysits"  
  
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Marvel Comics  
  
It was a warm summer night in Salem Center, New York. A gentle breeze blew through the trees and the humidity was perfect, not too sticky, but not allowing the heat to be a dry one. On a hill outside town sat an enormous mansion, owned by Charles Francis Xavier, and it was a busy night inside. A beautiful woman with red hair flowing down around her shoulders, wearing a sleek black dress, was talking on the phone hurriedly.  
  
"The babysitter canceled?" She questioned the party on the other end of the line, "That's not problem... just bring Gailyn here, I'm sure someone here can stay with her. No, don't worry, it's really no problem. OK, we'll see you then. Bye."  
  
"What was that all about, Jean?" a man in red sunglasses asked.  
  
"That was Sara. Her babysitter canceled, something about math finals, she's bringing Gailyn along with her and John," Jean Grey-Summers told her husband, Scott.  
  
"We're not bringing her with us, are we," Scott asked, a degree of alarm in his voice.  
  
"No, I volunteered someone from here to watch her, we're just going to have to ask around."  
  
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"Sorry, Mister Summers, but I've got front-row tickets to see Tetanis, I can't pass that up, I spent a whole month's allowance on those!" Jubilation Lee told Scott. She shrugged her yellow-trenchcoat clad shoulders.  
  
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"I am sorry, Jean, but I had promised Kitty that Betsy and I would take her shopping tonight," Ororo Munroe said, grimacing, "I wish I could help you."  
  
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Jean and Scott had gone down the list, and now they were on their last resort. Everyone else had plans for the evening, and John and Sara would be arrived with Gailyn any moment. They had decided that Jean would be the best person to ask the last person on their list, because he had a bit of a soft side when it came to her. He was sitting on the sofa, lounging comfortably in a red-checked flannel shirt and worn blue jeans. He sipped at his now-warm bottle of beer and watched the game on television.  
  
"Um, Logan," Jean started, timidly, "I have a favor to ask of you."  
  
"What is it, Red," he asked, never taking his eyes off the television.  
  
"Do you have plans tonight?"  
  
"Don't beat around the bush, what's up?"  
  
"Me, Scott, my sister, and my brother-in-law are all going out to dinner tonight, and their babysitter canceled," Jean said, "they're bringing my niece here, and we need someone to watch her while we go out."  
  
"Ask Jubes."  
  
"Concert."  
  
"Ask 'Ro."  
  
"Shopping... and Betsy, and Kitty... so..."  
  
"Oh, no... I ain't babysittin' no half-pint..." his attention turned to Jean, and when he saw the pleading look on her face, his train of thought went dead.  
  
"Please, Logan," she pleaded, batting her eyelashes, "it would mean alot to me."  
  
Logan clenched his teeth, refusing, for all of about three seconds, "All right, but you and Slim owe me, Red."  
  
"Thank you, Logan!" Jean threw her arms around the gruff man, who did little to react, except tell her not to mention it and that it was no problem. Deep down inside, he was about to scream.  
  
  
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It was nine minutes after seven that the knock came on the front door of the Xavier Mansion. Looking at the collected crew on the front porch, the family resemblance among Jean, Sara, and Gailyn was unmistakable. They all had fiery red hair and large, lovely green eyes. Sara's husband, John, stood behind his wife and their child, and moved with them into the mansion when Scott answered the door.  
  
"I'm sorry we're late," Sara said to Scott, "we had to get some of Gailyn's things together."  
  
"No problem at all," Scott said, flashing a small smile.  
  
Jean entered the room and greeted her sister and brother-in-law each with a hug, then bent down to her niece's level and hugged her, "Uncle Logan is going to be watching you tonight, OK?" Sara and John were familiar with all of the X-Men, and knew that if Jean could trust them with her life, then they could certainly trust one of them with babysitting their young daughter.  
  
"You be good tonight, sweetheart," Sara said to Gailyn, bending down to give the youngster a kiss, "don't give Uncle Logan any trouble."  
  
At that moment, Logan entered the scene, a very apparently forced smile on his face and greeted everyone present. Everyone said their "see you laters" and left Logan and the little girl alone. Logan shuffled into the kitchen and grabbed another beer for himself.  
  
"You want anythin', kid," he asked.  
  
"No, thank you, Uncle Logan," the six-year old said, clinging to a pink backpack.  
  
"Whatcha got in there," he said, heading back to the couch and the baseball game.  
  
"Just some stuff I brought for us to play with," she said, a bit of excitement climbing in her voice and sparkling in her eyes. Logan cringed when she said "us"... he knew he wasn't going to get to watch the rest of the game tonight. He did, however try. But after about twenty minutes of quiet playtime on the floor alone with her Barbie doll, Gailyn looked up at him, "Wanna be Ken, Uncle Logan?" She said, smiling sweetly.  
  
"Uh, Uncle Logan wants to finish watching the game, maybe later," he lied, hoping that she'd forget by then.  
  
"Pleeeease, Uncle Logan?" Gailyn stared at him with those big green eyes, batting them just so. It was the same look Jubilee always gave him when she needed a ride to the mall. He gave in with a grunt, hitting the power button on the remote and getting down on the floor. The little girl handed him the Ken doll and grinned, happy that she now had a playmate. Logan couldn't have looked any less thrilled. He looked at the doll, completely decked out in a preppy outfit and shook his head.  
  
"So, uh, Barbie," Logan said reluctantly, moving the doll back and forth in the air to indicate that it was he that was "speaking," "You wanna go out on Friday night?"  
  
"Sure, Ken!" Gailyn giggled, "Where are you going to take me?"  
  
"How about off-roading on my motorcycle... go off into the woods and get lost for a while," he said, then added under his breath, "and never find ya again..."  
  
Gailyn frowned, "Ken doesn't have a motorcycle! And Barbie doesn't like to get dirty!" She put down the Barbie and crossed her arms.  
  
"Sorry," Logan said, growling a bit as he said it.  
  
"I don't wanna play Barbies anymore... I wanna play tea party!" She immediately went back into bouncy mode when she started going through her backpack again. She pulled out a blue hat and put it on her head, "I'll be the princess..." she continued rooting through the pack, finally finding what she was looking for, "And you can be the queen."  
  
As Gailyn pulled out the pink, flowered hat with the veil that hung over the brim, Logan's face was immediately recognizable "heaven help me." She placed it on his head and immediately giggled. She pulled out the tea set and set one of the plastic tea cups in front of the disgruntled berserker and put one in front of herself.  
  
"I'll pour," she said, lifting the tea pot and pouring air into each of the cups, "do you want one lump of sugar or two?"  
  
"Uhh... two." She did so.  
  
"Carefuly, it's hot," Gailyn said, slowly lifting the cup to her lips and blowing over the top, "lovely weather we've been having lately, isn't it?"  
  
"A tad too rainy, if ya ask me," Logan replied. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone entering through the kitchen door.  
  
"I like the rain," Gailyn said. Logan continued to watch the trenchcoat-clad form move from the doorway to the fridge and grab a beverage, then head toward the TV room.  
  
"Wolverine? Is dat jou, mon ami?" the Cajun said, stifling a laugh.  
  
"Yeah, Gumbo... ain't ya ever seen a flamin' tea party? Now get outta here before I turn ya into jambalaya..." The red-eyed man left, snickering all the way upstairs. Logan turned his attention back to the little girl, and now feeling more secure in his masculinity, simply in defense of his own ego, continued the conversation. It was about an hour later when Logan finally got tired of tea party.  
  
"Hey, kid, ya like ice cream?" He asked, getting to his feet. Gailyn nodded rapidly and bounced to her feet, following Logan closely to the kitchen, "and maybe after ice cream, I'll tell you a story."  
  
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The two had finished off all the chocolate ice cream in the mansion's fridge, and then had moved in front of the fireplace for story time. Logan sat little Gailyn on his lap and started telling her a story about a princess who was imprisoned by an evil warlord in a high tower guarded by a giant, fire-breathing dragon.  
  
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Scott, Jean, John, and Sara got home from dinner around ten o'clock and called for Logan and Gailyn. Neither of them responded. They began searching through the mansion for the pair, and finally Jean found them. The scene was too precious to ever forget. Logan and Gailyn had both fallen asleep in front of the fireplace, Gailyn nestled up on Logan's lap peacefully. Sara came in afterwards, then Scott and John. All found the scene adorable, and almost felt guilty when they moved Gailyn and ended up waking both of the sleeping beauties.  
  
"Time to go home, sweetie," Sara said, "say thank you to Uncle Logan."  
  
"Thank you Uncle Logan," the little girl said, rubbing her eyes sleepily as her mother lifted her away from her new friend, "I love you."  
  
The words tore straight through the Wolverine's heart, and he smiled at the little girl, "Come back anytime ya like, shortstuff. I love you, too."  
  
FIN 


End file.
